Dictionary

a•ble

—adj.1. having necessary power, skill, resources, or qualifications; qualified: able to lift a two-hundred-pound weight; able to write music; able to travel widely; able to vote.2. having unusual or superior intelligence, skill, etc.: an able leader.3. showing talent, skill, or knowledge: an able speech.4. legally empowered, qualified, or authorized.

—n.(usually cap.) a code word formerly used in communications to represent the letter A.

-able

a suffix meaning “capable of, susceptible of, fit for, tending to, given to,” associated in meaning with the word able, occurring in loanwords from Latin (laudable); used in English as a highly productive suffix to form adjectives by addition to stems of any origin (teachable; photographable). Also,-ble,-ible.